“Not everything that counts can be counted”

My high school environmental science teacher.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice..n..n.. we can’t get fooled again. — GWB

“Don’t regret. Remember.” From the movie “Portrait of a Lady on Fire.” Changed how I think about a lot of the events in my past. The director said that fans have come up to her and shown her tattoos of that line, so it’s not just me.

This line from Schindler's List always stuck with me:

“Whoever saves one life saves the world entire.”

The context is that at the end of the movie Schindler is distraught thinking of how many more he could have saved if he just did certain things differently, like selling a ring and using that money to hire another Jewish worker. One of the people he saved tells him the above line.

It's stuck with me for two reasons, I think.

First, it's an interesting perspective on individuality. Each person has their own unique perspective of the world. When that person dies, that perspective is gone forever. An entire universe dies with them, never to be seen again. I think that's a powerful way to view the individual.

Second, it's a reminder that we do what we can, and while it may be imperfect, it's enough. You can't save everyone, just live well and help those you can in the capacity that you can. If you save one of those people, you've saved the world.

Not my life because it was a comment on Reddit (at least I think it wasn't quoted from anything else). But I loved it and I remember it years later still.

As my father told me, There are only three useless things in this world. Nuns' nipples, bishops' balls and an employer's praise without a raise.

Decide what you're gonna do before you do it.

When I was like 8, a liftee at my local ski hill told me that as I dangled from the chairlift about 5 feet off the ground because I waffled getting on the lift.

A teacher of mine once said:"I can't understand, why a person needs a ton, to move itself."

20 years later I found r/fuckcars.

Sometimes the good you do, doesn’t do you any good.

"Live on, survive, for the Earth gives forth wonders. It may swallow your heart, but the wonders keep on coming. You stand before them bareheaded, shriven. What is expected of you is attention."

Salman Rushdie, from The Ground Beneath Her Feet.

A more recent one, meditation-related, short and simple and I have no idea who said it, I just happened to catch it a couple of years ago on a website-that-shall-not-be-named:

"I am not my thoughts."

A little cheesy, but in middle school we read this essay called “Give!” By Anne Frank

How lovely to think that no one need wait a moment; we can start now, start slowly changing the world! How lovely that everyone, great and small, can make their contribution toward introducing justice straight away

Her excitement is what always stuck with me

The future is no place to place your better days.

May the bridges I burn light the way.

This too shall pass.

When you fire that first shot, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who's going to die! You don't know whose children are going to scream and burn! How many hearts will be broken! How many lives shattered! How much blood will spill until everybody does what they were always going to have to do from the very beginning: Sit — down — and — talk!

Peter Capaldi as the 12th Doctor

If you hide your whole life, you'll forget who you are.

"Get to the Choppa"

My grandfather used to tell me: "What I know is that I know nothing". He used to tell me that even in his old age, he was still amazed by the things he discovered, just like a child. That taught me to always be humble and to understand the point of view of others and to always learn in life. So I will always remember this quote.

"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got."

Usually comes to mind when people are waiting around for others to solve their problems for them.

You brush at night to keep your teeth.

You brush in the morning to keep your friends.

“When you do things right, people won’t be sure you’ve done anything at all”. -God (futurama)

This little quote helps make me thorough in my work

Don't hold grudges. While you're holding a grudge, the other guy's out dancing.

We suffer more in imagination than reality

I have two that keep finding their way to be relevant. "smooth seas never made a skilled sailor" and "dont break anything you cant fix"

“You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

Only dead fish go with the current

Theres two -

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" - Dr. Seuss

And a recent one - "Your life starts where your comfort zone ends"

Comparison is the thief of joy.

"Never underestimate the power of denial."

― Ricky Fitts (American Beauty)

I now constantly test myself to see if I'm overlooking the truth. Refusal to admit reality or refusal to acknowledge an unpleasant truth can ultimately hold you back.

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler"

"Be Better", a college professor/mentor always aid that to me. Whenever I think about taking the easy way or the shortest way I just say "Be Better" and then do the right thing.

"The name's Bond, James Bond". Because of that quote, I have never failed to remember James Bond's name.

I heard one once that goes like "a fool does what he hates, a wise man does what he loves, but a great man learns to love what is necessary."
I think I am butchering the original phrasing which is probably why I can't find any source for this quote. But I think about it a lot.

"it's just work" --a buddy of mine

helps me every time I'm about to take something personal at work or am annoyed about processes.

"Friends and Family fuck you first". Sounds like a pretty shitty quote, but it proves to be true as you get older.

Time is the most expensive currency. You will never ever get back the time spent. So spend it wisely.

“One should respect public opinion insofar as is necessary to avoid starvation and keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny.”

• Bertrand Russell

"Oh, monsters are scared, that's why they're monsters" The Ocean at the End of the Lane

How many ages hence shall this our lofty scene be acted over, in states unborn and accents yet unknown?

Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act 3, scene 1.

But ... I first encountered this line in the shooter game Silpheed on the Apple IIgs, long before I'd read any Shakespeare.

"For every man there is a purpose which he sets up in his life. Let yours be the doing of all good deeds." Robin Hood quoteing the turk bible (quran)

Everything burns if the flame is hot enough, The world is nothing but a crucible. -Andrew Davidson - The Gargoyle.